Madness In Madripoor
It was shortly before midnight when Cable went online with the Professor, who was still onboard Graymalkin searching for any signs of Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front.
"Any news, Professor?"
"Yes, Nathan, quite a bit, actually."
"Well, let's have it. Where have our bad pennies turned up this time?"
"Madripoor, it is a small asian cit..."
"I know where it is. What's Stryfe doing there?"
"It seems that he is still recruiting for his MLF, three new members going by the names of: Sumo, Kamikaze and Dragoness."
"Give me a breakdown of their powers."
"Sumo: Super-human strength, as large and nearly as immovable as the Blob.
Kamikaze: Has the ability to generate explosive force, much as the young mutant Tabitha does but with much more concussive force. Also has the ability to fly.
Dragoness: Has the ability to generate and project extreme heat and I at first thought she too had the ability to fly but on closer scans I detected this to be a skillcreated by a mechanical device rather then a natural ability."
"So, there it is. He's getting ready for something big. He knows that I'll be there to stop him, so he's reinforcing his ranks. This time, though, I have a pretty fair little army myself. I'm turning in, old friend, notify me if anything happens."
"Of course, Nathan, rest well."
Cable had rose early, to get a good workout, before the rest of the team awoke. Afterwards, with his ever-present cup of coffee, he went to cerebro to search for signs of what Stryfe and the MLF might be up to in Madripoor. After and hour of this, another three cups of coffee and the beginning of a severe head-ache, Nathan checked in the communications room to see if Stryfe had made any public moves, such as he had when he had taken Rusty and Skids. Upon entering he immediately noticed that he had a message. This was odd indeed since all the people in the world that knew he was here could be counted on the fingers of one hand. He sat through the retina scan to decode the message and his heart skipped a beat when he saw who the message was from. Shiro Yashida the mutant known as Sunfire with the ability to generate great heat and flame, who utilized his thermal powers to give himself the ability to fly at great speeds.
As noted earlier in our tale, it seems that Cable and Sunfire's Father, Saburo Yashida, were fairly close friends. Cable must have told Saburo and Sunfire at least some of the true purpose of his mission, for Sunfire knows things, concerning Cable's past, that even the majority of The Six Pack never knew. The only reason that I can see for Cable to be so forthcoming with the truth behind his mission to these two, while he never told anyone else, that we know of, other then Domino that is, is that Saburo Yashida must have had connections that Cable thought might lead him to Stryfe's whereabouts, at that time. Which was, probably, immediately after Nathan learned that Professor Xavier could not help him and before he formed The Six Pack.
The message read:
"Commander Cable, I am sending this message to inform you that I have found some evedience that the MLF, led by the one you seek called Stryfe, might be behind some terrorist activity that I am investigating for my Government. All clues have led me to the Lowtown District of the city of Madripoor. If you wish, I will meet you there, on dock twenty tomorrow night and share what information I have with you then. S. Yashida"
"This clinches it" Cable thought, "First Stryfe gets his newest recruits from this area and now this. It looks like the kids and I are going to Madripoor."
Cable had transferred many of his vehicles, most from the fortieth century and a few purchased from A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics-A criminal organization that Nathan had worked both for and against during his Six Pack days.) to the teams new headquarters utilizing one of these vehicles the team made it to Madripoor in record time.Once there, Cable broke out one of the sky-cycles for himself while Warlock transportation for the rest of the team to the docks to keep their appointment with Sunfire.
It was quite, too quite, Cable performed a psi-scan of the area and picked up dozens of very hostile thought patterns. He kicked the sky-bike into motion, un-slung the plasma rifle and yelled to his team,
"We've been set up!"
As Cable opened fire on the ambushers, that sprang out at his shout, his team went into action and the battle was joined.
"Whoever they are, they were expecting us, and they've come prepared!" Cable observed, as the battle raged. The attackers were very well armed and trained. This battle continued for a few minutes and The New Mutants were slowly gaining the upper hand when, with a streak of flame trailing behind him, the former X-Man, Sunfire, entered the fray.
"A pity you fell into these villains trap, Commander Cable, when I suggested that you meet me here, I did not know you'd be attacked."
"I know that, Sunfire, no son of your Saburo Yashida could ever be a traitor, but someone must be monitoring our movements pretty carefully."
Sunfire suggested that, since secrecy was no longer a concern, they continue their meeting in Hightown. Cable agreed, and they were soon on their way.
As they flew along on their way to Sunfire's Madripoor headquarters, Cable turned towards Sunfire and said,
"Your father's death was a great loss to the world, Sunfire."
"...He always spoke highly of you. It is a shame your son met with so untimely a fate." Sunfire replied.
(Sunfire is referring to Tyler, Cable's adoptive son who was believed to be dead at this time)
Although they kept quite, this came as a shock to Sam and the others, who didn't know that Cable had any children.
Once they had arrived, Sunfire informed them of a new designer drug, called sleet, that induced massive paranoia and murderous rage in it's users. This drug, he told them, had now fallen into the hands of terrorists who had tested it's effectiveness on a small mountian village in Japan. He showed them a photo of the aftermath. The people had all gone mad and murdered each other. Sunfire told them that the terrorists had introduced the drug into the village's water supply and that the Japanese Government had commissioned him to investigate and that he had traced the drug to Madripoor.
"Just as we traced the Mutant Liberation Front. We brought portable cerebro's to aid in tracking them." Cable told him, as he retrived one of the units from a pouch on the sky cycle. As soon as he turned the unit on it found several mutant signatures near the wharf, where they had been attacked.
Cable split the team into two groups and, using the cerebro units, soon traced the MLF to their lair. Cable's team, consisting of Sunspot, Wolfsbane and Rictor, began to move in, taking out the perimeter guards as they came upon them.
Sam's team, consisting of Tabitha aka Boom-Boom, Warlock and Sunfire, were the first to be attacked. As they flew towards the MLF's headquarters they were met by Kamikaze, Sumo and Dragoness. The battle was joined and Sam and the others were doing quite well until first he and Warlock, then the others were blasted from the sky by a powerful plasma gun that left them stunned and unable to move. Sam looked up at the man who had taken them all out in a matter of seconds. He was clad, head to toe, in gleaming silver armor.
"Who...who are you?" Sam asked.
"I'm called Stryfe."
Stryfe ranted on about his plans to introduce the sleet drug into the water supplies of Tokyo, New York, London, Moscow and other cities. Sam informed him that his mad plan would never work, that Cable would find them and stop him cold. Stryfe laughed at this, informed his henchmen to bind the prisoners, and took the portable cerebro unit and crushed it.
Nearby, hidden on a rooftop, Rahne, who was monitoring their cerebro unit, picked this up and told Cable,
"Something terrible must have happened! The cerebro unit lost track of our teammates! They've simply...disappeared!"
"They may have fallen into one of Stryfe's traps. Don't worry, Rahne, he won't harm them...yet. They're potentially too valuable, and resourceful as they are, they may escape to cause trouble from within...Quite! Someone's coming."
He ordered Sunspot to block the man's escape route through the alley and Rahne to remain on the roof with Rictor as he moved in on the man slowly making his way down the alley.
Cable had descended to the alley a little ahead of their surprise visiter. As the man came even with him, Cable leapt out and delivered a sharp left jab which would have left most men unconscious for hours. This man, however, just rolled with the punch and came up ready for more. Then there was the gleam of metal in the man's left hand along with a sharp SNIKT sound. The man made to slash Cable open with blinding speed, but Cable was faster still and dodged the blow.
Sunspot from his angle could make out the identity of this person and was shocked to see that it was a friend.
"Cable--Wolverine! No! Stop!" He shouted.
"Cable" Wolverine said.
"Logan...it's you!"
"Yeah, Bub, who else would it be!" Wolverine snarled and once more leapt to the attack.
The combat continues, and Roberto's heart sinks. These two men...his heros...know each other, and their knowledge only fuels their fury.
So, in a back alley of this ramshackle port city of an insignificant island nation, the Battle of the Century is joined. As flesh pounds flesh and steel clashes against steel.
From such an arena, can either man emerge alive?
Our Journey Continues With
Lethal Weapons
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